At this year’s WinHEC, Microsoft offered up only the most basic of guidelines as to what PC makers should do to make their PCs “Longhorn-ready.” Microsoft told PC makers that most existing mainstream 32- and 64-bit CPUs from mainstream manufacturers should run Longhorn. While dual-core CPUs will run Longhorn better, “Longhorn does run on mainstream processors. The only other Longhorn PC requirements that are set in stone are 512 MB or better of RAM and support for the new Longhorn Display Driver Model (LDDM) in order to handle the operating system’s new graphical features. Older CPUs with 128 or 256 MB of memory and older graphics will still be capable. Longhorn will provide an absolutely fabulous gaming experience but in order to be able to take the fullest advantage of Longhorn as a gaming platform, Microsoft suggested PC makers gravitate toward 64-bit dual-core processors, 1 GB of memory, 56 MB of graphics memory and advanced LDDM support. At this year’s WinHEC, Microsoft offered up only the most basic of guidelines as to what PC makers should do to make their PCs “Longhorn-ready.” Microsoft told PC makers that most existing mainstream 32- and 64-bit CPUs from mainstream manufacturers should run Longhorn. While dual-core CPUs will run Longhorn better, “Longhorn does run on mainstream processors. The only other Longhorn PC requirements that are set in stone are 512 MB or better of RAM and support for the new Longhorn Display Driver Model (LDDM) in order to handle the operating system’s new graphical features. Older CPUs with 128 or 256 MB of memory and older graphics will still be capable. Longhorn will provide an absolutely fabulous gaming experience but in order to be able to take the fullest advantage of Longhorn as a gaming platform, Microsoft suggested PC makers gravitate toward 64-bit dual-core processors, 1 GB of memory, 56 MB of graphics memory and advanced LDDM support.